Heterochromia
by guillotineghosties
Summary: It was a grim reminder that none of his abilities now were really his own, and neither was his body. There was another person sleeping within his subconscious, who couldn't be bothered with the mundane existence Hinata was choosing to lead on the island. Komahina, fluff, comfort, post DR2, established relationship
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Thanks to bullet-refutation on tumblr as always for being my editor!

This doesn't follow DR3 at all.  
So this is post DR2.  
\- Komaeda still has his prosthetic that Hinata made for him  
\- The remnants that have woken up are under close FF supervision  
\- Naegi occasionally visits the island to check in, since they're his responsibility  
\- Hinata has yet to wake up everyone, and there's no guarantee that every single person will be cured of Despair completely  
\- This takes place about two months or so after the game's ending

Feedback is appreciated; enjoy!

\- x - x - x - x - x

Hinata's vision of the world had never been so crisp and clear.

Reading the back of the cereal box didn't require him picking it up anymore, and he didn't have to squint to see into the distance.

If his eyes were to be tested by an actual optometrist, his vision would be 20/20.

And Hinata technically _was_ an optometrist now, or at least could get his certification easily.

But he didn't like to think about all of the things that he could do now, and despite how much easier life was with perfect vision, he'd began actively avoiding mirrors whenever he could so he wasn't faced with his heterochromia.

It was a grim reminder that none of his abilities now were really his own, and neither was his body.

There was another person sleeping within his subconscious, who couldn't be bothered with the mundane existence Hinata was choosing to lead on the island.

If Hinata was sent out for field work, or anything remotely dangerous, he could feel a spark of _something_ in the back of his head. A sudden second awareness.

Hinata didn't like to think about him, and presently avoided the thought of engaging with Kamukura as he stared at the black monitor screen in front of him.

He sighed. This was tedious.

Which was probably why Naegi had left him this assignment.

No one back at the FF headquarters wanted to deal with it, and like with any other difficult decryption task, they'd probably said, "hey, let's just have that guy do it! He does nothing but sit around all day until we order him to jump. Plus he's a super genius, so what the hell?"

Hinata could almost hear them now, almost hated how he'd become so complacent with doing whatever they told him…

But he had amends to make, and currently, working for them was the only channel of redemption-not to mention, there were five people still asleep, and doing whatever they told him guaranteed their safety.

As long as they needed Hinata to do something, they wouldn't call his identity into question.

 _This is the fifth time I've had to restart this thing...come on…._

He slouched his chair and pressed the enter key a few times, knowing it would do nothing.

 _Come on…_

The longer the screen stayed black, the longer he could see his own face.

 _People don't naturally have red eyes...it's weird...no one ever stared at me before, so they aren't staring because I'm good looking or anything…_

"Hinata-kun!" Komaeda was poking his head in the doorway, giving him his usual smile. "It's nearly midnight...are you really okay with pulling an all nighter? Not that my opinion matters, but you've got some dark circles under your eyes and with the way you're hunched over, you might could use a nap."

"Well, Naegi is coming back to retrieve this disk in a couple of days and I'm not even halfway done."

"That's two days away, though!"

"I just wanna get it done and over with."

Komaeda stepped into the room, holding a cream colored mug. "I thought you might say that, so I brought you some coffee!"

"Oh, thanks…"

He smiled timidly as Komaeda walked over and handed it to him.

"Hinata-kun, are you hungry?"

"Not really.."

It was still a little embarrassing to have Komaeda taking care of him like this, always making sure that he had coffee or snacks when he was working and waiting until he left to tidy up the workspace.

But Komaeda needed to do it to feel useful, and no doubt still felt indebted to Hinata for building his new hand-and it _was_ helpful that someone actually took the time to clean up.

Komaeda continued to stare at him for a few seconds as he took a long drink of his coffee, downing half the cup.

It was medium roast. Just how he liked it.

Komaeda had watched Hinata's reactions to his handiwork carefully the first couple of weeks he'd been experimenting with the coffee machine.

"Are you sure you aren't hungry and maybe don't realize it?"

"I'm sure…"

Hinata had to cut eye contact with him, feeling his face heating up. Komaeda was shameless with his gawking, but at least when Komaeda stared at him, he didn't feel like he was some sort of two headed spectacle on display.

Komaeda hadn't mentioned Hinata's heterochromia even once since waking up, nor had he prodded him about Kamukura.

 _I never thought I wouldn't mind Komaeda just...looking at me like that…_

"So, Komaeda, uh...how is everyone?"

"Huh? Oh! Of course, I forgot, you haven't left this room for three whole days! An update on what's going on right outside your door would make sense. I was a bit confused, my apologies..."

 _As if you didn't know what I meant._

Hinata narrowed his eyes and downed the rest of the coffee.

"Well, I'd say everyone is doing exceptionally well! Sonia-san and Tanaka-kun's garden by the hotel is actually blooming! I wouldn't have thought that the climate here was suitable for any sort of real agriculture other than tropical fruits." Komaeda pulled up a chair next to Hinata, unabashedly, but was polite enough to look up at the ceiling while he gathered his thoughts.

"Souda-kun actually intruded upon them a few days ago and planted what he believed to be a rose, and declared that when it grew he would give it to Sonia-san! I was curious if he'd actually managed to find rose seeds around here, so I diug it up after he left and it was just a red colored pebble!"

Hinata couldn't help but scoff. "Doesn't he have any better to do? I mean, of course he does…"

"He fixed the ceiling fan, finally!"

"He still needs to work on getting those jeeps in working order...it'd be a lot easier not having to travel on foot everywhere."

"Oh, right, he wanted me to tell you-they're in perfect working order already, but the batteries are dead! They've sat idle for so long that none of them have any power at all."

"Great…"

"But Hinata-kun, I have an idea!" Komaeda sounded enthusiastic, so Hinata looked back over at him.

"...Well? What?"

"A lightning rod!"

"Eh?"

"I'm sure you and Souda-kun could build one easily, and just attach it to the batteries after they've been taken out! I'll stand at the bottom of the rod so lightning definitely will hit it!"

Hinata frowned. "Komaeda, you do realize that with that much electricity, the batteries would actually explode, right?"

Komaeda laughed a little. "I know that! I was _joking,_ Hinata-kun..."

 _That didn't sound like a joke…_

"So what else is happening?"

"You're really asking about Tsumiki-san, right?"

"Well...yeah. She's the one most at risk, y'know…"

"She's still holed up in her room. Still crying. She insists she's better now and doesn't mean us any harm, but…"

"I'm not sure how much I believe her, either. We need to keep an eye on her...just in case she's still infected with Despair..."

"'We'?"

"Y-Yes, I mean all of us…"

"Hinata-kun, you realize that you and I are the only ones here who are actually keeping tabs on things, right? Everyone else is still either coming to terms with things or treating this like the vacation we didn't get."

"I've realized that, yes." He was almost envious of the ability to seem so carefree, although he couldn't read their minds. Maybe this was how some of them coped with it, how they tried to restore themselves...because they _could_ restore who they used to be.

"Are you sure? You haven't been out much!"

Hinata huffed before he could stop himself. "If this is you trying to trick me into taking a break-"

"Me?"

"Yes, you! I'll take a break when I'm done with this, alright?"

That seemed to satisfy him.

He reached over, removed the empty mug from Hinata's hand. "Suit yourself, Hinata-kun. With how brilliant you are, I'm sure you'll crack that disc soon and who knows, it might provide some really useful information for the Future Foundation! The more pleased with us they are, the less likely we are to be executed, after all. I didn't realize how thirsty you were. I'll get you some more coffee."

"Yeah, thanks…hey, are you busy right now? Other than...the coffee I mean…"

"Not at all."

"Well, if you want...I mean, if you're that worried about me, you can bring a book and sit on the couch while I work…your luck might help me, who knows…"

Komaeda beamed. "Alright! I'd like that a lot, Hinata-kun! I promise to be quiet."

Within three hours of Komaeda keeping him silent company, laying across the couch with his nose buried in a book on poisonous snakes, Hinata had finally did it.

He'd cracked the encryption, and upon piecing the fragments of files together and opening them, he found nothing more than a message directed at him.

Hinata Hajime,

Congratulations on cracking this encryption! It's currently the most secure type that technology has to offer. Upon handing this disk back to us unencrypted, Future Foundation would like to offer you full time employment with specific contract terms based on your case.

Hinata sat back in his chair, held his head in both hands, and realized that the throbbing in the back of his head was likely _his_ anger at being mocked. He groaned.

 _Wait...are they mocking me? They're not...this was just a test...stop trying to make me feel angry with you…!_

He didn't want to be awake any longer than he had to be now, so he ejected the CD, put it back into the envelope he'd received it in.

With a sigh, Hinata looked back at Komaeda, who had fallen asleep with the textbook opened on his chest.

He couldn't help feeling frustrated. If the FF really did want to hire him on, the whole "based on your case" segment meant that he'd probably have to go in front of a bunch of higher ups and be questioned to death.

Maybe have his brain scanned to prove that he was really himself, which he knew couldn't be proven.

Kamukura Izuru was still alive, inside of him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Especially right now, since this entire debacle had pissed him off.

 _But I can't exactly tell them no…_

 _Of course you can. Tell them you aren't interested._

 _Just be quiet! I don't want to talk to you._

To his surprise, Kamukura didn't argue with him, but Hinata was always left wondering if, having full access to his brain, Kamukura couldn't influence him in other ways.

If all of his feelings and thoughts were ever 100% his own.

 _Whatever, I don't want to think about this right now!_

Hinata shut down his computer, watched the desktop disappear, and was once again left staring at his left eye when the screen went black.

Two days later, and Hinata had thought of a solution, at least a band-aid-an obvious one that had completely flew over his head before.

Or maybe the idea had been blocked out of his mind.

"Naegi-san, can I ask a favor?" Hinata said casually as he handed him back the disk at the docks.

Naegi was as bashful as ever, embarrassed when someone older than him referred to him so formally. He didn't argue anymore, though, smiling awkwardly and taking the envelope.

"Of course! If it's about relocating all of you off the island, I'm...I'm not sure they want you back among civilians just yet…but you're the best candidate we have for new recruits right now, so..."

Hinata shook his head, looked over his shoulder to make sure that no one had snuck up on them to eavesdrop. Komaeda was still sitting on the beach with Saionji and Koizumi as they built a sandcastle. Saionji wedged a baby turtle into the tower in the middle as a centerpiece.

Komaeda noticed him immediately and waved.

Hinata turned back to Naegi, staring down at the ground. "Well, I was thinking...I guess...I'm assuming, hiring me on, your bosses are gonna want to meet me in person again?"

"Probably...but they'll likely ask me to take you back to base. I'm sorry, but I don't decide these things, so I really don't know."

"I don't want...people there staring at me. My eyes, I mean, I realize I look really weird like…" He pointed to his left eye. "This...so, uh, if you could-if any places still exist that sell them-I'd really appreciate it if you found some contacts that matched my natural eye color."

"Oh! Sure thing!" Naegi was maybe the most kind hearted, empathetic person Hinata had ever encountered and he almost felt guilty for asking this of him.

Like he was taking advantage.

Naegi pulled out his phone. "Let me take a picture of your eye to find the shade closest to your natural color!"

It probably looked weird, Naegi suddenly taking a picture of him, and Hinata rigidly stood there as he took the photo, praying no one had seen.

"...there! I'll see what I can do for you!" Naegi sounded confident.

Hinata nervously smiled, feeling somewhat relieved. "Thanks...I'm glad the world isn't so destroyed as to lose modern things like contact lenses…"

"It's...getting better out there…but it shouldn't be a problem at all, Hinata-san!"


	2. Chapter 2

The night time was quiet for the first time in a long while.

Sleeping in his own bed, in his own cabin, Hinata wasn't surrounded by the buzzing of computer fans or the rumbling of the oxygen tanks in the NWP room.

He actually felt sleepy for once when he'd laid down, but he'd already told Komaeda that he could spend the night if he wanted to.

And Komaeda always wanted to spend the night with him.

Of course, he made sure that Komaeda was instructed to only slide into his room when no one else was around.

Hinata wasn't ashamed of him-well, maybe he was ashamed of himself for doing this sort of thing-but no one else needed to know.

Not yet, anyway.

The last thing he wanted any of his classmates to think was that he was only wasting time fooling around with the person who tried to kill everyone in the program, and not at all concerned with continuing his efforts to bring the remaining people out of their comas.

Kuzuryuu and Owari would never forgive him if they thought he wasn't trying his hardest.

 _What good is taking a break if I just feel guilty.._.

But Komaeda was always so pleased to sleep with him, wrapping his arm around Hinata's neck and resting his head against his bare chest when they'd finished, breathing heavily, their bodies sticking together with sweat.

"Hinata-kun, do you feel any better?"

His hair tickled his face, so Hinata pet him a little to brush it away.

A breeze blowing through the window provided a little relief to how hot his face felt.

"Yeah...I do….thanks...you're, um, really good at that..."

"Hmm?" Komaeda looked up at him, eyes piercing into his soul.

"You know what I mean!" Hinata felt himself blushing all over again and turned his head away stubbornly.

"Well, Hinata-kun, I have to say that you're much better than I am!"

"Don't...don't say that…"

"Eh? Why not? It's the truth?"

Hinata sighed heavily, felt the breeze sifting through the window again.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked out to the sway palm leaves between the cracks of the blinds. "I don't like being the best. Look, I haven't talked about it, but...the truth is…"

He sat up, Komaeda following suit and watching him with silent concern.

Komaeda waited patiently for him to continue; Hinata was grateful that he wasn't pressing it while he tried to piece together the most delicate way to say it without sounding selfish or ungrateful.

Because only a whimsical brat would beg for something their entire lives, only to turn up their nose when it was given to them or to decide at the last minute it wasn't what they wanted.

"Whenever someone says I'm the best, it's like...they aren't praising _me_. They're complimenting _that guy_ , and I'm not him, y'know? At least, I don't want anyone to see me as him. I don't want _you_ to see me as him, because I'm not some Ultimate Hope...I just have all these powers left over...along with the responsibility to try to undo at least a little bit of what he did."

Komaeda listened to him, watched how Hinata curled his knees up to his chest and crossed his arms, refusing to look at him.

"But this burden is all my fault. I asked for this. And if all of this hadn't have happened, I'd still be upset at myself for not being good at anything. So...I don't have a right to complain. I don't even know what I'm saying right now…but regardless, I don't want any praise...I don't actually deserve it..."

 _I didn't have a right to ask Naegi-san for those contacts, either…_

Komaeda took a breath, scooted closer to him, and put a hand to his warm shoulder.

"Hinata-kun," he said solemnly. "I only see you as yourself, of course! You're the same Hinata-kun that tried so desperately to talk some sense into me back during the game, and the same Hinata-kun who gave me the most thrilling challenge of my virtual lifetime! That was you, y'know, completely without-ahem- _that guy's_ influence, cracking each murder case on your own and seeing right through my every move! Even with my luck!"

Hinata blinked, loosened his arms, and suddenly felt foolish for never having thought of that.

"Hinata-kun, I think-and this could be the rambling of someone who has no idea what they're talking about-that maybe you didn't let yourself dwell on your own accomplishments, because you've already put yourself in the shadow of someone who just so happened to steal your physical body for a time!"

"Well…"

He couldn't argue with that, and although it stung to have someone else pointing it out, at the same time, he felt...relieved.

Because that explanation made sense.

 _No matter how talented I am now, I can't look at myself from any other perspective...Komaeda has been watching me this entire time, of course…_

Hinata looked over at him, still at a loss of what to say.

"And furthermore, Hinata-kun, I never said you were the best! I just said you were better than me, which isn't a high bar to surpass!" Komaeda laughed a little. "I'd like it personally if you used your hips a little more!"

He bumped his hip against Hinata's for emphasis.

Hinata felt his face heat up and playfully elbowed him in the rib, completely caught off guard. "H-Hey, I told you I was tired…! You've never complained before..."

Komaeda laughed and clutched his side. "Th-that actually tickles! And I wasn't complaining!"

Hinata shook his head and laid back down, hurriedly turning away from him, head hitting the pillow. "Alright, seriously...I'm tired…let's get some sleep...and, uh, thanks. I feel better now..."

The moment the words left his mouth, Hinata realized that thanking Komaeda probably wouldn't play out well. It'd just be an opening for him to discredit himself more.

He'd have been better off not saying anything at all.

And it wasn't fair, because if Komaeda was allowed to make him feel better, then he should be allowed to at least thank him without having to listen to him demean himself.

But to his surprise, Komaeda said, "of course, Hinata-kun!" and nestled his face against his back.

Surprisingly enough, by the next night, a huge box had been left at the end of the doc.

Whoever FF had sent to deliver it didn't have the courtesy to at least leat someone on the island know there was a package.

Koizumi had found it, and Owari carried it back to to the hotel where Kuzuuryu, Sonia, and Souda had been playing a game of air hockey.

Because Hinata was back to confining himself inside of the NWP room, Sonia went to go tell him that a package had arrived.

"I don't get why I have to be the person who opens it," Hinata was actually annoyed at having been interrupted from his nightly check up to do this, but followed her back, anyway.

There was a pair of scissors behind the front desk.

Everybody knew that.

He was expecting his contacts, yes, but they always sent some other supplies like emergency rations or flares, which didn't make such since considering no one from FF, who knows how many miles away, would even see an emergency flare.

Sure enough, soon as he opened the box, Owari snatched the single bag of beef jerky and ran with it; there were some batteries for the emergency radio, a few lighters, a box of donuts crushed underneath some large textbooks, a ziplock bag full of...mixed CDs that actually had music on them, and a smaller box with Hinata's name written on it that diverted his attention from anything else in the package.

He grabbed the smaller box, excitement coursing through him suddenly.

 _It's lame, but...I'm actually excited about getting these. I'll finally look normal again!_

While the others continued to dig through the box, Hinata made a beeline for his cabin.

No sooner than he shut his door did he get sit at his desk, grab his letter opener, and start cutting through the tape.

As confident as he felt in the fact that he was himself after Komaeda's encouragement last night, Hinata still didn't want to have a red eye.

It still looked weird.

There was no getting around that.

And that was fine, because now Hinata at least had a way of blending in.

But as he opened the box and spotted the two vials containing the contacts, along with a container and a bottle full of solution, his heart sank.

"N-No way...how did this...get mixed up…?"

He grabbed the vials, held them in his hand as if his vision had suddenly failed him, but there was no mistake: the contacts were the same deep red as his left eye.

Hinata set them back in the box, slide the box to the edge of the table, and let his forehead smack onto the table limply.

He could almost hear Kamukura laughing at him, if Kamukura had the ability to laugh.

Maybe he was. Hinata was certain that he was at least mocking him.

 _I don't care! Whatever...I deserve this…_

He balled his hands into fists and wrapped his arms around his head.

 _I wanted to stand out my entire life and now I have it...I deserve for people to stare at me…_

No matter how he tried to fight it, Hinata could feel his eyes stinging and his throat hurting.

 _I'm not allowed to get out of it…_

But before Hinata could resign himself to burying his face in his pillow and crying it out, there were two knocks on the door.

"Hinata-kun!" Komaeda called from the other side.

"Wh-what is it?" Hinata cleared his throat, wiped his eyes, and attempted to compose himself.

"You forgot a letter Naegi-san included in the box addressed to you specifically, and also I brought you some coffee! You weren't in the lab so I thought you might be here."

"O-Oh...yeah…" Hinata stood up and opened the door him.

Komaeda strolled in and handed him the letter.

Hinata knew this was probably about his employment-if that was what they were going to call it-and sat on his bed with Komaeda plopping next to him.

The letter didn't say much of interest. It was what Hinata expected: some formal words about how they wanted to see him at the headquarters in person to decide the terms of his employment, how any inclination of Despair wouldn't be tolerated, and that they'd like to see him "continue recovery". He'd be meeting them in exactly ten days.

"Hinata-kun, it says you can bring another person with you!"

"Yeah...it does…" He sighed, folding the letter up and placing it on his night stand.

"Who ever will you pick to-"

"You know you're going with me."

Komaeda, who had been called out, didn't say anything for a second, noticed the pouting look on Hinata's face, and then turned his attention to the open box on the desk. "What else did you get?"

"You're always so nosy…"

Komaeda jumped up and went to investigate, gasping loudly at the contact lenses and pulling them out.

"Hinata-kun, what are these? You...you already have a red eye…"

Hinata almost wanted to say that Komaeda's bad luck must have rubbed off on him, because what other explanation could there be for such a coincidental mix up, but thought better of it.

If Komaeda thought his luck was affecting other people again...Hinata didn't want to think about it.

"Y-Yeah, I do…"

Komaeda looked at the vials curiously, then back to the letter, then back to Hinata, and smiled brightly.

"Hinata-kun, I'm flattered!"

"Eh?"

"You bought these so I could wear one, and we could match when we went to the Future Foundation! You really aren't embarrassed of me at all! I-I have to say..." His eyes were welling up. "I never thought anyone would be so unashamed of having me around them like this…"

Hinata hadn't even known that he could take someone with him to the FF meeting. Naegi had never mentioned that being a possibility.

"H-Hey, Komaeda, calm down...there's no need to cry about it...I just figured...why not match? We'll be getting lots of weird looks for who we are, anyway. Might as well go all out, right?" Hinata mumbled, going along with it.

Komaeda nodded enthusiastically.

 _For Komaeda to automatically assume I did this for him, he has some amount of faith in my feelings for him...I'm glad…_

 _...Or...is he just giving me a way out of having to explain…? No, Komaeda can't read my mind…I'm pretty sure..._

 _Either way...Komaeda, you've really grown, haven't you..._

Hinata stood up and motioned towards the bathroom. "You wanna try putting one in now?"

He was already taking the solution and lens case out of the box and opening them.

"Yes!" Komaeda scanned the back of the vial for instructions as he followed Hinata.

He'd never worn contact lenses before, although he'd thought about it.

"Hinata-kun, I really feel like today is extra lucky for me!"

Maybe Komaeda's luck had been responsible for the mix up, after all, but Hinata couldn't bring himself to be sad about it now.


End file.
